The Girl Next Door (Alex/You)

7

When we were all on the bus, I sat with Alex and the whole school saw us off. As did most of the town. But I closed my eyes after we passed my dad's building. I just wanted to relax on the bus ride.

"Your dad's entire company was out there." Alex says and I nod.

"He apparently doesn't stop telling his employees how proud he is of me."

"Aw, that's cute." Alexis says and I open one eye to see her poking her head over the back of the seat in front of us. "I wish I was that close with my dad. Like my dad and I aren't like, always fighting, but we're not as close as you and your dad are."

"Well. When he's been the only one around for most of my life." I say and Alexis sighs.

"Yeah." She says and I sigh.

"I'm gonna take a nap. You guys'll wake me when we get there, right?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and use my shoulder as a pillow." Alex says and I grin, resting my head on her shoulder.

-

"Up! Pressure, pressure, pressure! Man, man!" I yell out from the bench where I was getting a drink as we played 6v6 with flying changes.  "Honestly, how are we even here? In this competition?" I mumble to myself, taking a seat on the ground.

"It's because you're a great leader." Rylie says to me, standing beside me.

"Can't be that great. We're playing like shit again."

"That's because you've lost your patience with these girls. You lose your cool, they lose theirs and freak out doing whatever they can to please their saving grace, which just digs a deeper grave. You can be hard on them, but you gotta keep your head, too." Rylie says and I nod, getting up as she calls everyone in, we were wrapping up practice, nobody was scoring in the 6v6 anymore, everyone was tired, and the little league football team needed the field. "Alright, guys, so we're going to finish up with some speed ladders before heading back to the hotel. Rylie says, so we all line up in front of the ladder. "You know the drill, sprint through the cone, don't stop before, or I'll add another." She says as her assistants gather by the cone to make sure we run through, not to.

"Through the cone ladies!" I call out as I stand at the front of the line. "I'm hungry and ready for a nap."

"Y/N, start us off."

-

"Pressure! Pressure! Left! Man behind! Drop drop drop!" I yell out from my cozy little spot on the back line as Alex has the ball up top, but I've pushed myself up so far that I'm practically just another midfielder. We were scrimmaging right now, and we were looking better. Rylie was right. "Good!" I call out as Alex drops to Alexis, so I signal for the ball and take the pass, taking it up, slotting it through to Alex who takes a shot, but misses. "You're alright, Alex. Unlucky!"

-

As Rylie calls practice after we'd done a ridiculous conditioning cycle put together by our JV drill sergeants, she addresses the game against Santa Ana in the morning.

"Guys, this is it. This is our first State game in years, but if we lose tomorrow morning, we're done." She says and I sigh. "But I know you guys can do it. You all are working so hard and it's going to pay off." She says and we nod. "So, when we get to the hotel, we've got team dinner, and then lights out. We've got an early morning. Captains, take it away." Rylie says before walking off, so Alex, Alexis, and myself stand in front of the team.

"I'd like to start off by saying that I've been thoroughly impressed with how we've been playing today. We need to keep that up tomorrow for the whole game, and we'll be one step closer to that state title that we all have worked so hard for. That I've screamed away my voice for. I came on board to help get you all to where we are now, and I'm proud to say that I'm not going anywhere during this tournament, or next season, or the season after that. I plan on graduating with three state championship titles added to this organization. I'm here to stay, guys. So let's win this game in the morning and play our asses off." I say, pausing for a moment. "But let's not forget to have some fun while we're at it." I finish and everyone cheers.